What does it take to get a spring in your step, a sparkle in your eye and a song on your lip? Ask the Ni-Vanuatu, residents of the tiny South Pacific atoll that perches happily atop the 178-nation ‘Happy Planet Index’, and they’ll tell you happiness doesn’t cost the earth. These 209,000-odd lotus-eaters apparently thrive on tropical surf and sunshine, taking a break now and then to earn some dough from small-scale agriculture and tourism. As do their kindred souls in the Central American nations that take up the top 10 places in the index.
The index, compiled by the New Economics Foundation (NEF), rates countries on the basis of consumption levels, life expectancy and happiness instead of economic parameters like GDP. It suggests that people can live long and happy lives without consuming vast quantities of the earth’s resources. Take the US — the resource-guzzler gets the 150th rank. And yes, money doesn’t have much to do with it either. Japan, the world’s second-largest economy comes 95th in the charts.
This should gladden the hearts of Greens and Gaia theorists, who warn that to enable people around the world to consume as much as the industrialised economies, several Earths would be required. Now, if it is possible to up one’s happiness quotient by living within one’s ecological means, that’s great news. The NEF recipe for a happier humankind — eradication of extreme poverty and hunger; recognition of the contribution of unpaid work; and economic policies that work within ecological limits. Here’s to happiness!